Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
There were several avalanche problems to consider today, including persistent slabs, wind slabs, and wet loose.
Persistent slabs have the potential to make the largest avalanches. A crust facet combo buried nearly 2 feet deep produced unstable snowpit test results today on an upper elevation northeast aspect.
Fresh, touchy wind slabs formed this morning along upper elevation ridgelines. Moderate to strong south and east winds were blowing snow onto north and west aspects. We observed natural wind slabs and easily triggered them ourselves. They were small but easily large enough to knock you off your feet and take you for a ride.
With warm temperatures and some sunshine, we also observed natural rollerballs and point releases on steep sun exposed slopes in the afternoon.
Fresh wind slabs near ridgelines were sensitive and produced avalanches and shooting cracks.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
- Wind Loading
- moderate
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
It was a warm day with thin overcast skies. At upper elevations, moderate to strong south and east winds were blowing snow onto north and west aspects.
Snowpack
We dug a snowpit on a northeast aspect at 7200 ft. The snow depth was 153 cm. There was a 22" thick slab of snow resting on a crust facet combo that produced a propagating extended column test (ECTP22). The facets were noticeably weaker than where I dug yesterday.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5
- Count
- 2
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 7700 ft
We observed two small natural wind slab avalanches on upper elevation northeast aspects that likely failed earlier this morning. We also intentionally triggered two small fresh sensitive wind slabs on nearby slopes that hadn't avalanched already. They ranged from 3-18" thick and pulled back onto low angle slopes (28-29 degrees) along the ridgeline. They were all small and confined to near the ridgelines, but easily large enough to knock you off your feet and take you for a ride.